Tacoma streetpunksNOi!SE have announced that they are to release new music. In a cryptic Instagram post, Matt from the band said that there is “new music coming soon”. We here at DS will keep you posted…

Last weekend, the punks and skins came from far and wide, descending upon Boston’s Brighton Music Hall for the 13th installment of Street Dogs‘ annual Wreck The Halls festivities. The hometown working class heroes have been riding high this year, primarily due to the release of Stand For Something Or Die For Nothing, their first full-length in eight years. As the band’s members – and fans – spread far and wide, it can be hard to get all the moving parts in one place at the same time, making events like the three-day Wreck The Halls blowout all the more special.

Nights two and three of this year’s Wreck The Halls featured opening performances from Slapshot, Dori Cameron and the Invisible Monsters, Ramallah and 1916. Dying Scene made it out to the first night, particularly to get the chance to see Street Dogs take the stage with a couple bands that we’ve been fired up to finally see live: Noi!se and Art Thieves, and boy are we glad we did.

Fresh off the release of their own stellar full length, Russian Rats (State Line Records), Art Thieves kicked off the long weekend of Wreck The Halls shenanigans in fine fashion. The three-piece local band play a no-frills style of street punk that’s been the calling card of the local scene for a long time. They’ve sort of perfected the fuck-the-government calls to arms from a past generation and morphed it with the melodic sensibilities of the newer school. If there’s a local band to carry the torch that Street Dogs have been brandishing for the better part of the last couple decades once they decide to hang it up, it may well be Art Thieves.

Noi!se followed up in one of the most eagerly-awaited sets I’ve seen in quite a while. The Tacoma-based quartet has been around for seven-ish years now, but had yet to make it to this side of the Mississippi River. And yet, in many ways, Noi!se’s 45-minute set had the feel of a hometown show of their own, as a solid majority of the 435-strong capacity crowd was well versed in the band’s entire catalog. “Rank And File,” from the band’s 2012 Pushing On full-length (and previously from the This Is Who We Are 7-inch) kicked things off, and from their the band mixed in a dozen other tracks from across the last half decade. The first real pit of the night – and the first in a seemingly endless barrage of crowd-surface – fired itself up by the time fan-favorite “How We Made It Through” made its way into the set at the halfway point, pushing the gas pedal on an energy level that wouldn’t let up for the remainder of the evening. It was one of those times where the event actually exceeds lofty expectations, and where the symbiotic relationship between a band and a crowd is truly palpable.

It can be tough to come up with new phrases or adjectives to describe the live performance of a band that’s long been a stalwart of the scene. Still, the recent Boston Music Award winners for Best Punk/Hardcore act seem to find new ways to mix things up and keep them fresh, perhaps now more so than ever. The band ripped through “Stand For Something Or Die For Nothing,” the title track and lead single from their latest album, as they took the stage (well…after the rocking out to a few minutes of Boston’s “Foreplay” as the instrument-wielding 4/5th of the band took the stage anyway) before proceeding to dig deeper into the back catalog than I’ve seen them do in recent memory. “Pull The Pin” and “You Alone” and “Katie Bar The Door” were welcome additions to the setlist that I can’t recall having seen in the last handful of SD shows. The band played without a barrier (and, as a result, without a photo pit, which is something I’ve become apparently waaaaaaay too comfortable with in my old age), meaning that a band that already gets up close and personal with its fans anyway was able to raise that bar even further. There were guest appearances from Big Truth of American War Machine (I think) and the legendary CJ Ramone, the latter of whom took on vocal duties for a cover of his namesake band’s classic track “Blitzkrieg Bop.” It was a raucous first night for both band and crowd — many of whom were in attendance for two or three nights — and set the stage brilliantly for what was to come.

Punk has never been a stranger to tackling controversial issues. On the contrary, for more than 40 years, punk has shown time and time again to be a LOUD voice of reason and unity in a chaotic, irrational and often devastating reality. True to their punk roots, Tacoma streetpunksNOi!SE tackles these issues head-on, more specifically here, the issue of gun violence and school shootings, in a very powerful, non-political way.

“Mass Apathy” (previously unreleased) is brutal, and the intentional vocal silence between verses is deafening; a symbol of lives [children] lost. The words themselves and the vocal contribution from Skinhead Rob (TRANSPLANTS/RANCID) really bring it over the top.

Unquestionably, this important song and message will spread far and wide, adding a colorful set of voices to an already loud and vibrant movement. The real goal though is to get people standing up and demanding changes to policies that endanger the lives and futures of America’s children.

In response to the recent barrage of public shootings, especially those involving school children, NOi!SE and Pirates Press Records will donate all proceeds from this song/record to several charities. In the true spirit of this band, and to make sure no voice is unheard, fans will have the opportunity to vote on the charities which will receive donations on behalf of NOi!SE and Pirates Press Records.

As an extra treat coming to you from the Washington act No!se, which follows the recent release of their full length “The Real Enemy,” the quartet have reissued their debut LP “The Scars We Hide” via Pirates Press Records.

According to Pirates Press, “Start to finish, the album solidified the band’s sound – pairing those rivitting drums, insane basslines, and great leads with a true verbal assault.”

Seattle punks Reinstated have released a new music video for their song “Run Johnny Run”. The foursome was able to enlist Matt Henson from Noi!se to help out with the backup vocals on the new video and you can check it out below.

“Run Johnny Run” comes off the band’s first album “Eleven Minutes on 11th Street” released in December.

Tacoma, WA streetpunks NOi!SE have released a video for “The Real Enemy”. The track features Al Barr of Dropkick Murphys and is taken from the band’s album of the same name, released via Pirate’s Press Records/Randale Records back in October.

Tacoma, WA street punks Noi!se have a new album on the way, and now we’re hearing a new song from said album. Listen to “Passing Time” below.

The track comes from the band’s upcoming album, The Real Enemy. The album, the band’s first full-length in more than two years, is due out on October 21st via Pirates Press Records. You can pre-order it on vinyl here (US) or here (Europe). You can also check out the album’s tracklisting below the music, along with a few planned release shows.

Good news for all of you Noi!se fans out there. As bassist/co-frontman Matt Henson told us in our interview last month, the band has a new album in the can and waiting for your ears. Today, you can listen to two new tracks from that very release.

The songs are called “Dull The Pain” and “Betrayed,” and they were actually released on double A-side format 7-inch earlier today through Pirates Press today. Give them a listen below.

“Dull The Pain” and “Betrayed” will both appear on the band’s upcoming full-length The Real Enemy, due out later this fall (also through Pirates Press).

Tacoma Washington is a blue collar town, the perfect breading ground for working class street punk. Tacoma mainstays Noi!se have announced a September 2nd release date for their highly anticipated “Double A-side” 7″ entitled, “Dull The Pain”.

In addition to this release, the band will also be putting out a new full length album “The Real Enemy” in the Fall.

Anyone familiar with Matt Henson, whether through “real life” or social media or some combination thereof, will no doubt be aware that he’s one of the more compelling people in the punk rock scene. For the uninitiated, here’s a quick synopsis in runon sentence format: In addition to playing bass and handling half of the lead vocal duties for Noi!se, Matt tackles vocals and acoustic guitars for Stadium Way, is a devoted husband and father to a young son and an infant daughter, and is a Master Sergeant in the United States Army where he’s in charge of roughly a hundred soldiers.

It’s that last bullet point that has a tendency to draw the most raised eyebrows amongst the traditional “fuck the man, fuck the system” mentality of the punk rock set. To hear Henson tell it, that’s a mentality that he personally grew up with. “There’s an inclination when you’re young and you’re angry and you’re pissed off to say “fuck the man! Fuck the establishment!” And that’s perfectly normal. I was like that, and I think it’s perfectly acceptable to be angry now. I think the political and social climates that we live in right now foster an environment of anger and frustration, and if you care at all about your family or your country, you’re going to be frustrated right now.”

There comes a point in the life of many a young, nihilistic punker at which the progression of time and the culmination of one’s life experiences provides a certain amount of added perspective that forces you to broaden those those earlier views. So while you try to hold on to some of those anti-establishment principles, you also do things like “get a job” and “pay taxes” and “start a family” and “buy a car.” Or, in some cases, you join the Army. “People seem to mistake serving in the military with a blind agreement with everything that the government does,” says Hanson, stating that people assume that “essentially a robot who’s been brainwashed to follow orders and you’re completely devoid of right and wrong and your self and free thought. And that’s certainly not true.”

If you’re like Henson and you take the heart of an idealistic punk rocker and add to it all that comes along with a lifelong military career, you end up with more than enough material to pull from when trying to write music as anything more than just a hobby. “In the Army, we have a phrase “target-rich environment,” explains Henson. “Lyrically, I would say that the United States is one of the most target-rich environments on the face of the planet, if not the universe.” While the problems experienced in the United States don’t necessarily compare to some of the more rigid environments that Henson has experienced abroad, that doesn’t make our problems any less frustrating, particularly given our quintessentially American way of losing sight of the forest because of all the damn trees in the way.

“The rhetoric on both sides (is) less about fixing any of the problems and more about demonstrating how the other side is going to make the problems worse,” explains Henson in a way that will invite anyone with even a modicum of common sense to nod in approval. “It’s almost impossible to have any sort of dialog about any sort of social issue with anyone anymore because everything’s become so divisive that if you make a suggestion or a criticism in any way, shape or form, it almost has to be met with a response from the other side. There can’t be a healthy discussion about how we can fix it and what we can do. It’s more about whose fault it is and who’s making it worse.”

He continues in such a way that yours truly will pull back from editorializing and just stick to the quotes: “There’s definitely other countries that are going through much worse social upheaval and social unrest, and that doesn’t negate what’s going on here. But being away from family, more than anything, shows you what’s important. With that in mind, you look at what’s going on here and your first thought is “how is this going to affect my family”? I have a son and a daughter and the thought becomes less about how annoying this change is for me and more about how this could potentially affect my kids and my grandkids down the line.”

With that as motivation, Henson and his Noi!se bandmates (Nate Leinfelder – vocals/rhythm guitar, Jesse O’Donnell-lead guitar and Kenny Dirkes-drums) set to work on brand new material soon after the release of their last full-length, the stellar-if-underappreciated The Scars We Hide. “It was actually our goal to (get to work) quicker, because I think Nate and I are two of the most impatient people on the face of the planet as it pertains to just about everything, music especially.” Early writing sessions would get interrupted, however, by a call from Uncle Sam. For a one-year period beginning in late 2014, Henson would find himself on deployment in Korea.

But while being seventeen hours ahead might pose some challenges, that doesn’t mean that Henson and the boys rested on their laurels. “Right now, if I had a song idea, the longest I’d have to wait is until next Tuesday so that I could take it to the band,” explains Henson. “In Korea, I would have to wait until I could get into my room, get a decent recording on the acoustic, send it to them, then call them and whistle the other leads and fills and vocal progressions so that they understood what I was talking about.”

When he returned Stateside, Henson took a brief respite to recharge and reconnect with his son and then-pregnant wife, before he the Noi!se gang got right back to work. “I was home for two weeks before we started recording,” says Henson. Why such a quick decision to get back at it? “Anybody that’s got a band probably feels the same way; once it has you, it becomes such a big part of your life. You’ve got all of these things that are pent up and trying to get out.”

The result of those post-Korea writing and recording sessions was the dozen songs that will soon be revealed to the masses as The Real Enemy, the sophomore full length that finds Noi!se raising the proverbial bar while staying true to their street punk roots. “The content is a little bit darker than we normally do, but there are some subjects that have hit pretty close to home with us recently that we really, really felt like we needed to address,” says Henson.

Chief among those things is post-traumatic stress disorder, which is experienced by roughly 8% of all American adults but more than double that rate amongst Veterans. “The War Inside,” for example, tackles the subject of PTSD in rather direct fashion, opening the album’s b-side while serving as a bit of a departure. Not only does the music veer away from traditional three-chord punk, but it also features a guest voice; Aimee Allen of the Interrupters. “Aimee’s voice and perspective add an essential element to the song that I think would be lacking without her in the mix. The backing vocals that (Aimee’s Interrupters bandmates) the Bivonas provide are incredible, also.”

With any luck, The Real Enemy will garner the band more recognition than the criminally-underappreciated The Scars We Hide did a couple of years ago. “What we’re hoping is that if the availability of this record is what we think it’s going to be, and people do us the honor of picking it up, maybe people that haven’t had a chance to listen to Scars discover it and listen to the music,” says Henson. Because Noi!se are unavailable to tour for the bulk of the year for somewhat obvious reasons, connecting with fans both new and old through recorded music takes on even greater importance. “You’re just trying to get someone else to feel what you were feeling when you wrote that,” says Henson, explaining the dividends that can still be paid in spite of the band’s inability to exist as a regularly touring entity. “That’s as quantifiable a feeling as you can get, other than playing and sharing the stage with some of your musical heroes and getting a nod from them, and the validation that you’re on the right track…if our music can get other people through the same things that music did when we were kids…it’s just a good feeling for a person to be able to help someone out in any capacity.”

Head below to read the full text of our Q & A, in which we expound on a lot of the subject matter above. Oh, and stay tuned for more news from Noi!se and Stadium Way in the coming weeks!

The tradition Las Vegas portion of Punk Rock Bowling 2016 will take place at the traditional time, Memorial Day weekend (May 26-30), and the festival takes over Asbury Park, New Jersey the next month (June 10-12). You can find more info on the PRB website.

I’m a big fan of street punk. I run Dying Scene so obviously I’m familiar with the band name Noi!se but even I can’t figure out how the hell I didn’t realize how awesome this band was until literally 10 minutes ago. The Tacoma based foursome just released a music video for their song “Pawn In The Game” and it is hands down the best “new” punk song I’ve heard in months. Check it out below.

The tune appears on the band’s most recent full-length, The Scars We Hide, released last September on GMM Records.

Band Spotlight

It’s the end of a work week; it’s raising a fist; it’s screaming your lungs out—it’s diving headfirst into a hundred sweaty bodies. South Carolina’s Longshot Odds captures the energy and abandon of a raging pit, a marriage of iron-heavy chords and honey-thick leads—the kind of music where the bruising comes with the chorus. Their new EP, Circle the Drain, is a six-song EP from an exciting new voice in punk rock—but what they bring to the table is more than the same old sounds. From the metallic “Challenger,” to the grandiose and cinematic “Movin’ On,” all the way to the bouncey folk of “Blood and Asphalt”—Longshot Odds bring a diversity to their sound practically unheard of in today's skate punk scene. But above all this, Circle the Drain promises deliverance through rock ‘n roll, and Longshot Odds fight tooth and claw to deliver.
The EP, out now on Dying Scene Records, can be streamed here.